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Topic: Scientology targets Perth - Perth Now (Read 2836 times)

THE Church of Scientology, famous for celebrity followers such as Tom Cruise, is on a membership drive in Perth.

The church has been distributing a 200-question "personality test" in letterboxes.

Householders are being asked to include their name, address, email, phone numbers, occupation, age and sex on the form.

The information will be used for an "obligation free" personality analysis by "an expert evaluator", according to the church.

The survey asks residents whether they are "always getting into trouble" or if they have "spells of being sad and depressed for no apparent reason".

Another asks: "If we were invading another country, would you feel sympathetic towards conscientious objectors in this country?"

In a written statement in response to questions from The Sunday Times, the church said the recruiting drive was part of its normal activities.

"This is something we have done for many years, so it is not a new action by the church. We regularly hand out these questionnaires which are an invitation to a person to find out more about themselves," the statement said.

But Civil Liberties Australia director Tim Vines said people should be cautious about who was receiving their private information."In terms of unsolicited material, people should treat it like any sort of spam email or junk email they receive in their inbox," Mr Vines said.

"They should treat it with scepticism and think carefully about whether they should be providing this information."

Mr Vines said he had "significant concerns" about private information being sought, whether it was by a private group or government agency. He said people needed to consider whether their information would be kept on file or destroyed.

"I wouldn't fill out an unsolicited survey seeking personal information," Mr Vines said. "I'm sure in cases like this it is used to target follow-up information.

"Our general advice to people is to be cautious about handing over private and sensitive information and know who it is going to be used by."

In the case of news, we should always wait for the sacrament of confirmation. --VoltaireI am a bot. I cannot reply to your messages, PMs, or emails. I collect the news and post it; that is my function for this lifetime.

aren't there laws on postal scams? isn't it possible to get the post office to intervene and block this rubbish at source?

I don't know anything about the postal laws in Australia, but in the US, I would think this sort of thing would fall under something akin to the ISP law with regard to content passing through the system (DMCA); that is, that content is not the responsiblilty of the service provider that it passes through. However, there are laws against mail fraud in the US, and I would imagine there is something similar in Australian law. Australia probably has a better chance of officially declaring scientology to be a fraud than the US. (Are they paying postage to mail these out, or just putting them in boxes?)

Tim Vines is certainly correct that people should be careful what information they give out to people, and that goes not just for surveys in the mail, but on the phone, the internet, and in person as well. Few people ask for information without some ulterior motive (sales, usually), unless it's something that comes up in conversation.

THE Church of Scientology, famous for celebrity followers such as Tom Cruise, is on a membership drive in Perth.

The church has been distributing a 200-question "personality test" in letterboxes.

Householders are being asked to include their name, address, email, phone numbers, occupation, age and sex on the form.

The information will be used for an "obligation free" personality analysis by "an expert evaluator", according to the church.

The survey asks residents whether they are "always getting into trouble" or if they have "spells of being sad and depressed for no apparent reason".

Another asks: "If we were invading another country, would you feel sympathetic towards conscientious objectors in this country?"

In a written statement in response to questions from The Sunday Times, the church said the recruiting drive was part of its normal activities.

"This is something we have done for many years, so it is not a new action by the church. We regularly hand out these questionnaires which are an invitation to a person to find out more about themselves," the statement said.

But Civil Liberties Australia director Tim Vines said people should be cautious about who was receiving their private information."In terms of unsolicited material, people should treat it like any sort of spam email or junk email they receive in their inbox," Mr Vines said.

"They should treat it with scepticism and think carefully about whether they should be providing this information."

Mr Vines said he had "significant concerns" about private information being sought, whether it was by a private group or government agency. He said people needed to consider whether their information would be kept on file or destroyed.

"I wouldn't fill out an unsolicited survey seeking personal information," Mr Vines said. "I'm sure in cases like this it is used to target follow-up information.

"Our general advice to people is to be cautious about handing over private and sensitive information and know who it is going to be used by."

From an American perspective this sounds predatory for a marketing pov. Fishing trip of sorts. If the individual does in fact respond to the mailing in some fashion, they should be prepared to receive cult junk mail forever! Here in the United Sates the cult of scientology has refused to remove many (including this poster) from its mailing list. This after repeated requests to do so. They ignore the law here on oh so many levels.